Barren Groveland Lies At Heart Of Zoning Tug-of-war

October 9, 1985|By Dianne Selditch of The Sentinel Staff

MAITLAND — Thirty-three acres of gnarled orange trees stretch between Maitland Boulevard and Sandspur Road in a grove where vines cling to the blackened bark. Many of the trees, now barren, grew from seeds planted a century ago. Having withstood recurring freezes when other groves fell prey to frigid temperatures, they, too, have outlived their usefulness.

How that land will be used, and who has the right to it, is a question square in the minds of the S.C. Battaglia family, which owns the land and wants to protect its value; Maitland homeowners, who are writing letters and signing petitions to preserve their residential neighborhood; Maitland city officials, who have filed to condemn the land for a public park; and Orange County commissioners, who will decide on a rezoning petition at a public hearing Oct. 21.

The property, on the south side of Maitland Boulevard 1/4 mile from Interstate 4, is one of several undeveloped parcels along Maitland Boulevard. Other projects include the Orangewood Presbyterian Church complex and the Landmark-Wilson Joint Venture, which plans a shopping mall, hotel and office park, sports complex, private homes and comdominiums.

''There's a whole set of dominoes setting right there just wobbling and we don't know which way they'll fall,'' said Maitland planner Dick Wells.

This particular land-use question traces Maitland's first 100 years, from its inception as a community surrounded by orange groves to a city with major commercial complexes and quiet neighborhoods, dissected by I-4 and Maitland Boulevard.

It also tests the strength of growth management plans, the documents that describe and limit how city and county land is to be used.

This is a story with many sides, best told by the people most affected.

One must begin with S.C. Battaglia, a citrus grower in his late 70s, known to his friends as ''Batt,'' who bought the Sandspur groves in 1950.

''I have a sentimental attachment to that grove,'' Battaglia said by telephone from his vacation home in Blowing Rock, N.C. When freezes killed the family's other properties, the Sandspur trees, which are tall and situated between a chain of lakes, survived.

''It saved my business career,'' he said. ''I know every one of the trees by name.''

He spoke about wanting to save the groves, about cutting the dead wood, pruning, fertilizing and helping the trees revive . . . maybe next year, maybe in two years. ''Nature has a will to live and to survive,'' he said. ''Those trees took care of me. I want to take care of them.''

But economics have dictated a different tack for his sons, to whom Battaglia has left the operation of the business.

''When you look at the prices out there for land, and what's going on, it's hard to keep it an orange grove; plus the weather has put another nail in the citrus coffin for Central Florida,'' said William Battaglia, an Orlando tax attorney.

The property, however, is not for sale.

''It never has been and it never will be,'' he said. ''We are not attempting to improve the land in order to sell it and make a profit. We want to keep it at its highest and best use.''

The property was appraised May 10 for $2.7 million, a value that could increase as much as fivefold with commercial zoning.

''The request represents a commercial intrusion into an existing and designated residential area,'' county staff reported Aug. 15, recommending that the project be denied. Rather than scratch the project, the county planning and zoning board asked staff to draft recommendations to make it work. A second report included 16 conditions for approval.

Even with those, the staff recommended denial of the project, said planning director Ed Williams.

''If they were going to approve the project over our objections,'' he said, ''they needed to have those 16 conditions attached for protection of the area and to address normal development issues.''

William Battaglia disagreed. ''It was zoned by the county as single-family residence before I-4, before Maitland Boulevard, when Sandspur Road was a dirt road,'' he said. ''We're trying to have a zoning changed to a classification that is more appropriate.''

Sandspur Road winds from Wymore Road to Maitland Avenue, between the strip of undeveloped groveland on the north and on the south past entrances to the established, well-tended Maitland Woods and Maitland Groves subdivisions, where homes range in price from $120,000 to $145,000.

Beyond the subdivisions, the road runs past Lake Sybelia Elementary School and winds through an older, woodsy setting.